Unpaid carer supporting partner

Call for unpaid carers to have their say

Unpaid carers in Northumberland are being asked to take part in a survey to help local authorities across the region better understand what makes a difference to them and what support they need.   
 
Cath McEvoy-Carr, Executive Director for Adult and Children’s services, said: “We are committed to supporting people who provide invaluable unpaid care, day in and out, to family and friends.   
  
“It is important they get the right support, so I urge anyone who has an unpaid carers role to take part in this survey.”  
  
Many unpaid carers don’t see themselves as a carer. Carers come in all shapes and sizes, it could be a wife caring for her husband; a husband caring for his wife; parents caring for an adult child with physical and/or mental illness; adult children caring for one or both parents, grandparents or other older relatives; adult siblings caring for one another following the death of their parents and as we see more and more, older couples mutually caring for each other with often complex physical and mental conditions.   
  
A carer can be someone who looks in on an elderly neighbour once a day, or someone who is carrying out intensive 24-hour a day support.  Caring can be short-term, where the person being cared for is recovering from an illness or injury, sporadic, where the effects of a condition can change the level of caring and support required such as long-term mental illness, or long-term – this could be caring for someone with a life-limiting condition or a condition which becomes progressively worse over time.  
  
It is for this reason local authorities across the North East are pulling together to ensure the right kind of support is given to unpaid adult carers.   
  
Carers Northumberland, a charity supported by Northumberland County Council, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) already aims to improve the lives of unpaid carers in Northumberland.   
  
Debra Blakey, Chief Executive of Carers Northumberland, said: “The role of an unpaid carer is to many something that they could not be without. It really will make a difference to their lives in one way or another.   
  
“It’s great that the local authorities are working together to better understand the needs of an unpaid carer – something which will help charities like ours be able to reach out to more carers in the future.”  
  
If you are an adult and provide any amount of unpaid care to someone, please take the time to let us know what it is you would benefit from.   
  
Those wishing to take part can do so online at https://nland.uk/UnpaidCarersSurvey
 
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